


Borrow or Steal

by semperama



Series: Tumblr Ficlets - Pinto [16]
Category: Star Trek RPF
Genre: M/M, Play Fighting, Shopping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-27
Updated: 2016-04-27
Packaged: 2018-12-01 09:10:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 761
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11483202
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/semperama/pseuds/semperama
Summary: Chris and Zach go to a thrift shop.





	Borrow or Steal

“What about this one?”

Chris looks over at the shirt Zach is holding up, the hangar tucked under his chin. It’s kind of awful, if he’s being honest. Brown and green and pink plaid and Chris can almost smell the mothballs just looking at it. And yet… “For you or for me?” he asks.

“For me,” Zach says, and squints at him distrustfully. “Come on, you’d never wear this.”

Chris scoffs. “Neither would you. Unless you were trying to be ironic. And while we’re on the subject, I should let you know: people can’t tell when you’re being ironic.”

“Yeah, they can,” Zach says, “because I’m always being ironic.” He tosses his head to flick his hair back off his forehead, affecting an expression of faux boredom, but Chris catches the corner of his mouth twitching before he turns back to the racks, slotting his new find up into his armpit for safekeeping.

But it’s not really safe there at all, because as soon as Zach’s back is turned, Chris lunges and steals it away from him. Zach whirls around and snatches at the air, but Chris has enough time to get out of reach, cackling with delight as he darts around the other side of the rack.

“Hey!” Zach says. “Come on, give it back.”

With Zach trying so very hard to be stern, Chris feels a little bad for laughing at him, but only a little. “Look, we both know you’re not going to wear this,” he says. “It wouldn’t work with your coloring.”

Zach puts his hands on his hips, which threatens to send Chris into another round of giggles. “To be fair, I don’t think that color combination would be flattering on anyone.”

“Then why do you want it?” Chris asks.

“I have a jacket it’d go with.”

Chris pretends to ponder it, then shrugs and wiggles the shirt back and forth. “You want it, you’re gonna have to come get it.”

He didn’t expect Zach to actually take that bait. They’re in public, and the older they get, the more Zach seems to forget how to have fun and laugh at himself. The days of roughhousing and doing stupid shit are in the past. But Zach must be in a good mood today, because he has made it most of the way around the rack before Chris realizes what’s happening. Even though he was a little slow on the uptake, Chris manages to pull the shirt out of reach, then takes off toward the back of the store, letting out a gleeful little whoop. He can hear Zach’s footsteps right behind him when he swerves between two racks at the last minute, hoping to shake him.

But he’s made a wrong turn. He finds himself staring at a dead end, a wall of used books bordered by a dense rack of clothes. The only way out is back the way he came.

“Oh shit,” he hisses, just as Zach catches up with him. He turns away and tries to hold the shirt out of Zach’s reach, but…he underestimated Zach’s reach. One strong arm curls around Chris’s waist and the other grips his forearm and pulls it back and then…

And then all of a sudden they aren’t moving anymore. Zach is pressed along the full length of Chris’s back, and they are both breathing hard, and Zach’s fingers are digging into Chris’s forearm and his waist. Chris can feel Zach’s breath on the back of his neck, and it’s raising goosebumps all up and down his spine. He is afraid to move a muscle, afraid to speak, afraid to do anything that might dislodge Zach or make him think that a thrift shop isn’t the right place for this to finally happen, for both of them to get over themselves and let this happen.

“Fine,” Zach mutters, close, so close, to Chris’s ear. “Fine, you can have the shirt.”

Then, his lips touch the base of Chris’s neck, and Chris can’t stifle his gasp. He feels Zach stiffen, like he’s waiting for the other shoe to drop, and he quickly places his hand over Zach’s wrist and gives it a squeeze to calm him, melting back into his embrace. He can’t hear Zach’s sigh but he can feel it, hot against his skin. Another kiss follows. Chris shuts his eyes.

“Okay,” he says, rubbing Zach’s arm from wrist to elbow, stirring the soft hair there under his palm. “Okay, but I’ll let you borrow it.”

“You better,” Zach says, and Chris can feel his smile.


End file.
